Rail-piercing machine.



Patented Feb. 5, I901.

F. J. J. SLOA-T.

BA'IL PIEBCING MACHINE.

(Application filed Aug. 8, 1900.)

(No Iodol.)

Inventor w. 5 as; Attorney Witnesses "UNITED STATES PATENT FRANK J. J.SLOAT, 0F HAMILTON, OHIO.

RAIL-PIERCING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 667,258, dated February5, 1901. Application filed August 3, 1900. Serial No. 25,744. (Nomodel.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it'known that I, FRANK J. J. SLOAT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hamilton,Butler county, Ohio, (post-office address, No.122Buckeye street, Hamilton, Ohio,) have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Rail-Piercing Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

In applying new bonds to old tracks it becomes necessary, by punching ordrilling, to pierce the webs or foot-flanges, and it is highly desirablethat the work be done without interfering with trafiic or necessitatingthe lifting of the rails. This work has heretofore involved seriousexpense, especially if the piercing be desired at the foot-flanges ofthe rails.

This invention pertains to a machine for the above-mentioned purposes,and the improvements will be readily understood from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved machine in conditionfor use in punching the foot-flange of a rail; Fig. 2, a plan of theguide of the coupling-bar; Fig. 3, an elevation of the screw,coupling-bar, and die illustrated in Fig. 1', the coupling-nut and aportion of the screw appearing in vertical section; Fig. 4, a sideelevation of the bracketarm illustrated in Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 a sideelevation of a bracket-arm for use when the web instead of thefoot-flange of the rail is to be pierced.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a rail to be pierced, the same being ofusual T-section; 2, one of the foot-flanges of the rail, beveled, asusual, upon its upper surface; 3, the body of the machine, the samehaving the general form usual in connection with portable screwpunches;4, a clamp engaging down over the head of the rail; 5, a set-screw forfixing the clamp to the rail; 6, an arm projecting outwardly from theclamp alongside the body of the machine; 7, a pin projecting from theouter end of arm 6 through a hole across the body of the machine, theclamp and arm and pin together forming a bracket-arm attachable to therail and serving to support the body of the machine in such relation tothe rail that the axis of the punch will pass through the foot-flange ofthe rail and be substantially perpendicular to the beveled upper surfaceof the foot-flange 8, a screw threaded into the body and having at itsupper end a squared head to receive a wrench, all after the manner usualin connection with portable screw-punches; 9, the gap in the bodysimilar to the gap in the body of an ordinary screwpunch, except that ithas very much greater height than usual, the height in the present casebeing considerably greater than that of the rail to be dealt with; 10,the lower jaw of the body, the same coming under the footflange of therail; 11, the die, the same be ing a perforated disk firmly butremovably secured in a recess in the upper surface of the lower jaw ofthe machine, the upper surface of this die being beveled, as seen inFig. 3, so as to bear fairly against the lower surface of thefoot-flange of the rail when the axis of the die is perpendicular to thebeveled upper surface of the foot-flange; 12, a coupling-bar forming adownward prolongation of the screw 8, the upper end of the coupling-barfitting into a recess in the lower end of the screw, the coupling-barbeing of non-circular cross-section, the preferred form being producedby first making the bar cylindrical and then flattening off two of itssides; 13, a coupling-nut screwing onto the lower end of screw 8 andengaging under a collar on the coupling-bar and serving to unite thecoupling-bar to the screw without interfering with the'rotativeindependence of the coupling-bar and screwthat is to say, the screw mayturn without turning the coupling-bar; 14, the punch, separably insertedin the lower end of the coupling-bar, this punch having a fiat faceadapted forfair presentation to the beveled upper surface of thefoot-flange; 15, a projection inwardly from the rear wall of the gap 9of the body of the machine; 16, a guide firmly secured to projection 15by tongue-and-groove and bolted connection, this guide having anaperture neatly fitting the non-circular portion of the coupling-bar 12;17, a bolt passing through the guide and the projection 15 and servingto rigidly unite the guide to the body of the machine; 18, the usualset-screw for firmly securing the die in the lower jaw of the ma chine;19, teeth or corrugations formed in moval of the coupling-bar.

the beveled upper surface ofZdie 11; 20, a disk in screw 8 at the upperend of the couplingbar to serve as a thrust-bearing; 21, an axial holethrough screw 8; 22, a rabbet formed in the lower outer portion of guide16, the roofwall of this rabbet being at sufiicient distance from die 11to come above the head of the rail when the'die engages under the rail,and the rear or vertical wall of the rabbet being even with the outerflat face of the coupling-bar, the coupling-bar being thus completelyencircled by the upper portion of the guide and engaged upon three sidesby the lower portion of the guide; 23, a clamp adapted to engage thehead of the rail, being like clamp 4; 24, an arm projecting outwardlyand upwardly from clamp 23; 25, a pin similar to pin 7, projecting fromthe extremity of arm 24 in such position relative to the clamp that whenthe clamp is secured to the rail the pin when engaging the body of themachine may serve in supporting the body in such position that the axisof the punch will be horizontal or perpendicular to the web of the rail,and 26, a second bracket-arm similar to the one seen engaging the railin Fig. 1, but disposed upon the opposite side of the body of themachine, which body may therefore be supported by a pair of bracket-armsengaging the rail at either side of the machine.

The bracket-arms (seen in Fig. 1) will remain normally coupled to thebody of the machine. The clamps 4 having been fixed to the rail, thebody hanging upon pin 7 is capable of swinging and projecting the lowerjaw and die under the foot-flange of the rail, the punch coming over thefoot-flange and under the side projection of the head of the rail, therabbet of the guide and the flattening of the outer face of thecoupling-bar permitting this position for the punch. The punching isdone in the usual manner by turning screw 8, the couplingbar and punchbeing non-rotary. During the punching operation the footfiange becomespreliminarily clamped between the fiat lower face of the punch and thetoothed and beveled surface of the die, thus avoiding side strains onthe punch and avoiding the tendency of the punch and diev to moveoutwardly farther away from the web of the rail. The diameter of thescrew and of the coupling-nut and the frontal projection of the upperportion of guide 16 are such as to project beyond the plane of the sideof the head of the rail; but as these parts are above the head of therail they do not interfere with the proper positioning of the machineupon the rail, there being no interference till the outer flat faceofthe coupling-bar strikes the side of the rail-head.

The punch is a small and inexpensive structure separably secured in thelower end of the coupling-bar and easily renewable. Guide 15, beingremovable from the body of the machine, permits the ready uncoupling andre- Guide 16 divides the gap in the body into two gaps, the lower oneconstituting the punching-gap and the upper one making room forcoupling-nut 13, the coupling-bar extending into the lower gap and inconjunction with the guide serving to give the punch a steadying supportclose to the work.

When the Web instead of the foot-flange of the rail is to be pierced,then bracket-arms of the form illustrated in Fig. 5 are to be employedinstead of the formillustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, the result being thatthe machine becomes supported with the axis of its punch perpendicularto the web of the rail. In webpunching the beveled and toothed die 11 isto be removed and an ordinary plain die substituted. Axial hole 21 inthe screw permits of the employment of a drill-spindle in place of thecoupling-bar and punch,screw 8 in such case becoming a mere feed-screwfor the drill.

In cases where a rail is to be pierced at some point distant from arail-joint, so that the rail is well supported on the ties, the machinemay find satisfactory support when using but a single bracket-arm; butin most cases the piercing for the bonds is to be done near therail-joint, and in many cases one or both of the splice-bars at therail-joint are removed preparatory to the piercing of the rail for thebond. In such case, if the machine be supported by one bracket-arm only,the heavy strains of working the wrench to do the punching will be quiteapt to spring the rail end out of alinement with its fellow rail end. Byemploying the two bracket-arms, one clamped to one rail end and theother to the other rail end, the bracket-arm structure bridges the jointand ties the rail ends together andfurnishes a firm support for themachine whilein use. The bracket-arm structure thus acts as a firmsplice for the rail ends while the punching is being done.

I claim as my invention 1. In a rail-piercing machine, the combination,substantially as set forth, of a clamp adapted to be fixed to the headof the rail, an arm projecting from the clamp, a pin projecting from theextremity of the arm parallel with the rail, a gapped body independentof said clamp and swiveled upon said pin, and a piercing-tool mounted insaid body.

2. In a rail-piercing machine, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a machinebody provided with piercing mechanism, a clampadapted for rigid attachment to a railway-rail independent of saidmachine-body and having an arm projecting outwardly from the rail, and apivot uniting said machinebody and arm and having its axis disposedparallel with the line of the rail.

3. In a rail-piercing machine, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a gapped body, a die in one jaw thereof, a screw mounted inthe opposite jaw thereof, a coupling-bar engaging the lower end of thescrew, a coupling-nut engaging the coupling-bar with the rail, amachine-body mounted upon [0 and adapted to swing upon said pin, and apiercing-tool carried by said machine-body and adapted to attack therail at a point between said-clamps.

- FRANK J. J. SLOAT. Witnesses:

J. W. SEE,

E. R. SHIPLEY.

